Gannett. 


A 
A 

0 
0 
0 

8 

7 
7 

o ! 
o  i 

2  1 


The  useful  man. 


F 

52 

P14 


SERMON 


PREACHED     AT    THE    FUNERAL    OBSEQUIES 


HON.  CHARLES  PAINE, 


E.   S.   GANNETT,   D.  D 


fssior  of  t(u  Jirst  Unitarian  &onetg,  Boston, 


TOGETHER      WITH 


OBITUARY    NOTICES 


f  U  0  M    OTHER   SOURCES. 


NORTHFIELD: 

PRINTED    BY    WOODWORTH    AND    GOULD, 
1853. 


SERMON 


DELIVERED  AT    THE    FUNERAL  OF 


HON,    CHARLES   PAINE, 


AT  NORTHFIEL.D,  TT.,  SEPT.  1,  1853, 


BY  EZRA  S.  GANNETT, 

MIXI8TEB  OF  THE  FEDERAL  STREET  SOCIETY  IX  BOSTOX,  MASS. 


NORTHFIELD: 

FEINTED  BY  WOODWORTH  &  GOULD. 


1853. 


IKf  WACO,  TEXAS,  JULY  6th,  1853, 

HON.   CHARLES   PAINE, 


SERMON. 


Phillppians  II :  4 — Look  not  every  man  on  Ms  own  things,  but  every  man 
also  on  the  things  of  others. 

God  has  put  us  here  to  be  useful.  That  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  text,  and  that  is  the  truth  which  this  occa- 
sion seems  to  me  suited  to  impress  on  our  minds  by 
the  example  of  a  life  which,  alike  in  its  early  and  its 
mature  manhood,  was  largely  productive  of  good  to 
others.  God  has  put  us  here  to  be  useful, — each  one 
in  his  own  sphere  and  in  his  own  way;  that  is,  accord- 
ing to  the  abilities  with  which  he  is  endowed  and  the 
circumstances  in  which  he  is  placed. 

We  may  state  the  purpose  of  human  life  in  different 
terms,  as  we  contemplate  it  under  one  or  another 
class  of  relations,  but  the  superficial  contradiction  will 
cover  a  real  harmony.  Man  should  live  for  God.  It 
should  be  his  aim  and  law,  to  glorify  his  Maker, — to 
obey  the  supreme  Will,  and  to  fit  himself  for  an 
enjoyment,  of  the  Divine  favour  hereafter.  Again, 
he  should  covet  personal  excellence,  and  labour  assid- 
uously to  unfold  the  spiritual  elements  of  his  nature 
in  preparation  for  a  higher  state  of  being.  In  either 
case  walking  by  faith,  and  looking  "at  the  things 
which  are  unseen  and  eternal."  And  yet  it  is  plain 


8 

that  we  should  live  for  others,  not  holy  remembering 
that  in  point  of  fact  "  no  one"  either  "  liveth"  or 
"  dieth  to  himself/'  but  making  it  our  high  endeavor 
and  constant  principle  "  to  do  good."  There  is  no 
contrariety,  we  say,  in  these  statements ;  no  more 
than  when  we  describe  the  purpose  of  an  invention 
differently  as  we  examine  it  from  this  or  that  point 
of  view ;  pronouncing  it  to  be  the  design  of  a  ship,  for 
example,  to  cleave  the  waters,  or  to  transport  the 
commerce  of  the  world,  or  to  weave  together  the 
interests  of  nations.  In  the  beautiful  harmonies  which 
the  Creator  has  established,  more  perfect  than  any 
which  man  can  produce,  the  threefold  purpose  of  our 
existence,  considered  in  respect  successively  to  God, 
to  ourselves,  and  to  our  fellowmen,  is  but  the  expres- 
sion of  a  spiritual  unity ;  while  the  double  relation 
which  our  life  sustains  to  this  world  and  to  the  world 
beyond  the  grave  causes  faithfulness  in  our  present 
circumstances  to  be  the  best  preparation  we  can  make 
for  future  happiness.  When  therefore  we  commend 
usefulness  as  the  proper  exercise  of  a  man's  faculties 
and  the  fulfillment  of  his  Maker's  design  in  placing 
him  here,  by  a  necessary  implication  we  pronounce  it 
to  'be  his  duty  to  consecrate  his  powers  to  the  glory 
of  God,  and  also  to  give  all  diligence  to  make  his  own 
"  calling  and  election  sure,"  seeking  an  inheritance  of 
endless  glory  for  himself  by  a  laborious  devotion  to  the 
well-being  of  others. 

Usefulness  is    diverse. in  its  form.     It  has  many 

anifestations,  but  one  spirit ;  many  methods,  but  one 

To  benefit  others,— this  is  its  object;  to  make 

them  wiser,  better,  happier,  more   free,  more  noble, 


m 

9 

more  receptive  of  the  good  which  may  be  educed 
from  their  condition ;  or  to  change  that  condition,  so 
that  it  shall  include  more  blessings,  offer  more  oppor- 
tunities, and  yield  more  substantial  benefit.  It  sup- 
poses therefore  an  interest  in  others, — an  acknowl- 
edgment of  their  claim  on  the  regards  of  the  individ- 
ual and  his  cheerful  response  to  that  claim.  It  does  not 
involve  an  act  of  self-oblivion  nor  require  an  abnega- 
tion of  personal  interests.  Two  mistakes  have  always 
found  advocates  in  opposite  extremes  of  specula- 
tion, while  the  truth  lay  midway  between  them.  On 
the  one  hand,  it  has  been  maintained  that  a  renuncia- 
tion, or  at  least  a  practical  neglect,  of  our  own  good 
is  our  duty  ;  disinterestedness,  according  to  this  school 
of  moralists,  being  inconsistent  with  a  pursuit  of  one's 
own  benefit,  either  immediate  or  prospective.  Now, 
since  the  illustrative  example  as  well  as  the  authori- 
tative teaching  on  this  subject  must  be  drawn  from  the 
New  Testament,  the  instruction  we  there  get  is  suffi- 
cient for  an  exposure  of  this  error.  The  language  of 
the  New  Testament,  instead  of  favoring  such  a  notion, 
is  directly  at  variance  with  it.  The  command  to 
which  Christ  assigned  the  second  place  in  the  code  of 
human  duty  contains  an  express  denial  of  the  idea, 
that  in  consulting  the  good  of  others  we  may  not 
think  of  ourselves.  What  says  the  golden  rule  ? 
"  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself!'  In  Watts's 
happy  versification, — 

"  Let  thy  kindness  to  thyself 
Measure  and  rule  thy  love  to  him." 

What  say  the  apostles  of  the  Lord  ?  Our  text 
furnishes  the  reply.  "  Look  not  every  man  on  his 


10 

own  things,  but  every  man  also  on  the  things  of 
others ;"  that  is,  let  not  his  attention  be  given  exclu- 
sively to  his  own  advantage,  but  let  him  at  the  same 
tune  study  the  advantage  of  others.  What  is  the 
character  of  the  example  left  by  him  who  was  "  with- 
out sin  ?"  The  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
supplies  the  answer,  in  his  declaration  that  "  the 
Author  and  Finisher  of  our  faith"  K  for  the  joy  that 
was  set  before  him  endured  the  cross."  The  theory 
of  a  disinterestedness  that  shuts  out  the  influence  of 
any  personal  motive  finds  no  support  in  the  Christian 
Scriptures,  abounding  as  they  do  in  passages  which 
hold  out  the  incentive  of  reward  and  describe  the 
penalty  of  disobedience.  Nor  are  we  required  to 
construe  such  passages  in  an  exclusively  spiritual 
sense,  or  with  a  limitation  of  their  meaning;  to  a  future 

f  O 

state  of  existence.  He  whose  days  are  devoted  to 
usefulness  need  not  be  unmindful  of  his  own  present 
interests.  That  is  an  unchristian  as  well  as  an  irra- 
tional doctrine,  which  requires  us  to  neglect  our 
worldly  affairs,  or  to  despise  the  good  opinion  of  our 
fellowmen,  lest  we  should  bring  our  generosity  under 
suspicion.  Circumstances  may  arise  which  shall  render 
it  our  duty  to  sacrifice  everything,  even  life,  for 
others ;  but  in  the  ordinary  course  of  events  benevo- 
lence neither  dooms  a  man  to  poverty  nor  precludes 
him  from  seeking  honorable  positions  in  society.  Sad 
indeed,  if  the  possession  of  either  wealth  or  office 
must  be  regarded  as  incompatible  with  disinterested- 
ness! More  sad  for  the  community  than  for  the 
individual,  for  then  places  of  public  trust  and  the 
resources  of  an  ample  fortune,  means  of  so  much  good 
as  well  as  harm,  would  be  in  the  hands  of  the  selfish, 


11 

of  those  least  disposed  and  least  likely  to  make  a  good 
use  of  them. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  disbelieve  and  loathe 
that  worse  than  Heathen  theory,  which  traces  every 
generous  deed  to  a  secret  self-love,  and  denies  the 
possibility  of  disinterested  service ;  a  theory  which 
degrades  man's  reason  into  a  machine  for  the  calcula- 
tion of  loss  and  gain,  and  makes  his  life  nothing  but 
the  result  of  that  calculation.  No ;  man  is  capable 
of  espousing  aims  and  arranging  plans  irrespectively 
of  his  own  advantage.  He  can  make  it  his  habitual 

d? 

and  predominant  purpose  to  benefit  others. 

His  habitual  and  predominant  purpose,  I  say. 
There  is  an  impulsive  generosity  which  lacks  that 
element  of  steadfastness  without  which  no  one  can  be 
really  useful.  Spasmodic  acts  of  beneficence  often 
gain  more  praise  than  a  uniform  discharge  of  social 
obligations,  but  they  deserve  less.  Usefulness  is,  from 
its  very  nature,  a  habit. 

And,  farther,  the  temper  of  which  we  speak  must 
be  joined  with  an  integrity  that  shall  scorn  unworthy 
uses  of  time  or  circumstance.  We  may  not  allow  the 
title  of  a  benefactor  of  his  fellowmen  to  one  who 
gives  them  an  example  of  equivocal  conduct ;  for  his 
example  taints  the  public  morals,  and  no  offices  of 
kindness  or  gifts  in  money  can  compensate  for  such 
an  injury.  High-principled  honor  should  be  the  com- 
panion of  generous  endeavor.  "Without  fear  and 
without  reproach,"  may  be  borrowed  from  the  mottos 
of  chivalry  to  describe  the  character  of  him  who 


'9 

I 


« looks  on  the  things  of  others,"  not  with  an  envious 
eye,  but  with  an  eager  desire  to  promote  their  com- 
fort and  improvement. 

In  union  with  the  qualities  we  have  noticed  must 
we  discover  the  presence  of  a  faith  which  lifts  the  soul 
to  higher  contemplations  than  those  of  earth  or  time  ; 
faith  in  God  as  the  Author  and  Judge  of  all,  the 
Source  of  blessing  and  the  Witness  of  every  secret 
purpose.  What  other  support,  indeed,  can  be  found 
for  an  integrity  which  no  adverse  change  of  circum- 
stances and  no  specious  temptation  shall  be  able  to 
move  from  its  allegiance  to  the  right  ?  Or  what  other 
reasonable  ground  of  confidence  in  efforts  for  the 
good  of  men  ?  Religious  faith  must  underlay  all  such 
efforts,  to  give  them  consistency  and  prevent  their 
yielding  to  the  shock  of  disaster  or  the  attrition  of 
discouragement.  Show  me  a  man  who  is  upright, 
generous,  aoble,  free  from  disguise,  acting  always  upon 
high  convictions  and  for  good  ends,  I  need  not  hesitate 
to  pronounce  him  one  on  whom  the  realities  of  the 
spiritual  universe  in  which  he  is  embosomed  have 
impressed  themselves,  and  in  whose  mind  the  great 
idea  of  God  is  fixed  as  the  pivot  of  his  existence. 

Through  the  combination  of  these  elements,  of 
disinterestedness,  integrity  and  religious  faith,  the 
spirit  of  usefulness  obtains  that  compact  and  energetic 
force  which  enables  it  to  accomplish  what  it  under- 
takes. Its  resolution  and  its  perseverance  often  sur- 
prise those  who  do  not  understand  of  what  divine 
ingredients  it  is  composed.  In  its  manifestations  it 
is  various  ;  because  the  wants  of  men  are  various  and 


13 

the  ways  in  which  they  may  be  benefitted  are  num- 
berless. He  who  attempts  to  restrict  its  action  to  any 
one  or  more  methods  betrays  an  entire  ignorance  of 
its  nature.  As  well  might  he  issue  a  decree  that  the 
streams  of  our  earth  shall  run  on  the  same  angle  of 
descent  and  in  channels  of  the  same  breadth.  There 
are  many  ways  of  doing  good,  because  the  capacities, 
as  well  as  the  necessities,  of  man  are  many.  The 
highest  benefit  which  can  be  conferred  on  any  one, 
in  its  immediate  result,  is  his  redemption  from  the 
bondage  of  sin  through  the  application  of  spiritual 
truth ;  and  hence  the  missionary  who  carries  the 
gospel  where  it  is  unknown,  or  the  Christian  friend 
who  by  his  effectual  remonstrance  "  saves  a  soul  from 
death,"  establishes  a  claim  to  the  warmest  admiration 
and  the  heartiest  thanks.  But  he  who  opens  a  school 
for  the  uninstructed  mind,  or  who  founds  a  hospital 
for  the  sick  body,  is  also  a  benefactor  on  a  large  scale. 
And  no  title  of  grateful  honor  should  be  withheld 
from  those — philanthropists  I  will  style  them,  for  I 
know  not  who  better  deserve  the  name — whose  lives 
are  jeoparded  in  attendance  upon  the  victims  of  a 
plague  like  that  which  has  desolated  the  great  com- 
mercial city  of  the  Southwest.  Usefulness,  I  repeat, 
has  110  single  form  of  expression.  She  who  travels 
from  Maine  to  Louisiana,  and  by  her  marvellous  pow- 
ers of  persuasion  makes  private  wealth  and  public 
law  tributary  to  her  purpose  of  providing  asylums 
for  the  insane,  is  a  benefactor  of  her  race  ;  but  so  is 
she  also,  who  by  her  personal  efforts  and  her  judicious 
advice  has  changed  the  character  of  emigration  from 
Great  Britain  to  Australia.  Whoever  renders  human 
life  more  desirable  is  a  benefactor  of  his  kind.  It  has 


14 

been  said,  that  he  who  causes  two  blades  of  grass  to 
grow  where  but  one  grew  before  is  worthy  to  bear 
this  name  ;  in  other  words,  whoever  increases,  per- 
manently, the  means  of  sustenance,  comfort,  or  con- 
venience for  his  fellowmen ;  whoever  lightens  their 
toil,  lessens  their  anxiety,  relieves  their  fear,  or 
encourages  their  virtuous  enterprise  ;  much  more,  he 
who  quickens  their  sympathies,  enlarges  their  sphere 
of  affection  and  hope,  opens  to  them  new  sources  of 
knowledge,  or  brings  the  natural  and  social  advantages 
which  the  Author  of  our  being  intended  for  the  use 
of  man  within  the  reach  of  those  to  whom  they  have 
been  denied.  The  purpose  being  a  right  one,  that  is, 
unselfish  and  untainted  by  the  infusion  of  narrow 
feeling,  any  undertaking  which  promises  an  increase 
in  the  amount  of  human  happiness,  which  makes  it 
easier  to  accomplish  the  work  of  life,  which  multiplies 
the  pleasant  relations  of  men  with  one  another,  facil- 
itating their  intercourse,  subverting  their  prejudices, 
and  begetting,  with  honorable  competition,  reciprocal 
confidence,  which  makes  nature  and  society  subser- 
vient to  the  welfare  of  the  individual, — any  such 
undertaking  is  a  legitimate  form  of  usefulness,  and 
justifies  us  in  holding  up  the  example  of  him  with 
whom  it  originates  or  by  whom  it  is  cherished  for 
imitation. 

The  direction  which  beneficence  takes  in  our  own 
day,  shows  that  in  one  respect  at  least  modern  civ- 
ilization confesses  the  influence  of  Christianity.  In 
ancient  times  there  was  no  such  thing  as  philanthropy. 
Man  as  an  individual  was  not  an  object  of  interest. 
Patriotism  did  not  recognize  the  value  of  the  people. 


15 


Some  there  were,  willing  to  sacrifice  themselves  for 
the  glory  of  the  national  name  or  for  the  benefit  of  a 
class ;  but  a  thoughtful  concern  for  the  people  at 
large,  inducing  efforts  for  the  improvement  of  their 
condition,  was  unknown.  One  of  the  peculiarities  of 
the  Gospel  was  its  recognition  of  the  worth  of  the  in- 
dividual. Overlooking  all  conventional  distinctions, 
it  treated  the  humblest  man  with  just  as  much  com- 
passion as  the  highest,  and  the  highest  with  just  as 
much  severity  as  the  lowest,  attaching  importance  on- 
ly to  moral  differences.  Where  Christianity  succeeds 
in  communicating  its  own  judgment  and  temper,  the 
great  object  with  those  who  "  look  on  the  things  of 
others"  will  be,  to  place  every  one  in  the  largest  pos- 
sible enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  a  bountiful  Provi- 
dence and  the  privileges  of  a  special  revelation.  But 
the  history  of  the  Christian  ages  from  the  beginning 
shows  how  imperfect  has  been  the  control  which  our 
divine  religion  has  obtained  over  minds  which  ac- 
knowledged its  authority.  In  our  time,  and  in  our 
land,  is  first  seen  a  due  appreciation  of  the  individual. 
The  people  are  thought  of.  Their  condition  becomes 
a  subject  of  attention-.  And  the  enterprises  on  which 
we  lavish  praise  are  those  which  benefit  not  a  few, 
but  the  many.  He  who  cheapens  a  production  of 
nature  or  art  for  the  multitude  does  a  greater  service 
to  the  world,  than  he  who  introduces  a  new  luxury 
for  the  rich  or  a  new  pleasure  for  the  powerful ;  and 
he  who  facilitates  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  or 
innocent  enjoyment,  much  more,  of  religious  truth, 
by  the  people  is  the  real  philanthropist.  Thank  God, 
this  is  becoming  the  decision  of  the  nineteenth  cent- 
ury,— strange  that  Christendom  has  been  so  slow  in 


16 

reaching  this  point ;  and  with  the  better  conception 
of  what  they  should  make  their  aim,  those  who  have 
desired  to  do  good  have  fostered  movements  suited  to 
lessen  the  evils  or  to  augment  the  advantages  of  every 
class  in  the  community.  "  Looking  on  the  things  of 
others"  through  a  wide  ransce  of  observation,  and 
anxious  to  relieve  some  general  want  of  society,  they 
have  directed  their  individual  lives  into  that  current 
of  usefulness,  ever  deepening  and  widening  as  just 
thoughts  take  possession  of  men's  minds,  by  which 
the  world  is  borne  on  to  its  ultimate  destiny ;  even  the 
humble  effort,  that  confines  itself  to  the  most  private 
offices,  being  thus  made  to  confer  a  benefit  that 
reaches  through  the  circles  beyond  circles  of  con- 
sanguinity, neighborhood,  commonwealth,  country, 
and  humanity. 

Mark  now  the  useful  man.  He  is  one,  who,  with- 
out conceiving  it  to  be  his  duty  to  disregard  his  own 
interests,  is  constantly  engaged  in  advancing  the  in- 
terests of  others ;  whose  generosity  is  large,  but  judi- 
cious ;  whose  happiness  lies  in  devising  and  executing 
schemes  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellowmen ;  whose 
heart  is  well  taught  hi  the  school  of  Christ;  who  loves 
the  people,  but  is  no  demagogue ;  who  delights  in 
serving  his  neighbors  or  his  countrymen,  as  lie  may 
have  opportunity,  and  who  makes  the  opportunity 
where  it  does  not  offer  itself;  who  is  most  esteemed 
where  he  is  best  known ;  and  whose  influence  grows 
with  his  years,  till  he  is  felt  to  be  a  part  of  the  stabil- 
ity of  the  social  state.  Or,  should  prejudice  misrep- 
resent him,  and  a  too  greedy  ear  accept  the  tale  which 
would  tarnish  his  name,  he  holds  on  his  course  in  the 


17 

consciousness  of  a  noble  purpose  prosecuted  by  up- 
right means,  and  time;  the  great  vindicator,  clears  oft' 
the  aspersion. 

Such  a  man  is  a  blessing  to  the  community  to  which 
he  belongs,  and  to  the  age  in  which  he  lives.  Why  are 
such  men  ever  cut  off  in  the  midst  of  their  useful- 
ness ?  The  question  is  often  on  our  lips.  Let  it 
receive  an  answer.  The  world  is  poorer  and  weaker 
for  the  removal  of  every  such  man.  Why  does  God 
permit  us  to  be  so  impoverished?  Such  men  are 
needed.  Why  are  they  taken  away  ? 

I  would  avoid  the  presumption  of  attempting  to 
explain  the  whole  providence  of  the  Most  High  ;  but 
a  sufficient  reply  to  these  questions  is  at  our  com- 
mand. In  his  infinite  kindness  God  "  has  appointed 
unto  man  once  to  die,"  that  he  may  rise  to  a  higher 
state  of  being.  It  would  be  a  strange  illustration  of 
his  justice,  to  deprive  those  who  have  made  the  best 
use  of  the  present  life  of  this  privilege  of  death.  But 
if  they  die,  it  must  be  either  at  the  height  of  their 
usefulness  or  in  that  decline  of  vigor  which  ends  in 
the  decrepitude  of  age.  Would  we  doom  them  to 
this  latter  necessity,  as  a  reward  of  the  interest  they 
have  taken  us  ;  requiting  their  generous  toils  by  our 
selfish  demands  ?  But  farther  let  it  be  considered, 
that  they  are  creatures  of  infirmity  like  ourselves,  ex- 
posed to  disease,  and  in  their  ignorance  liable  to  incur 
fatal  danger.  Do  we  ask  of  God,  that,  in  addition  to 
their  moral  graces,  he  will  give  them  immunity  from 
peril,  or  a  foresight  superior  to  that  of  prophets  and 
apostles  ?  We  should  not  dare,  I  think,  to  do  this, 


* 

I 


18 

in  our  fondest  or  most  anxious  moments.  Admit- 
ting then,  that  they  must  be  subject  to  the  same 
law  of  mortality  and  the  same  hazard  of  life  with 
their  fellowmen,  we  can  perceive  how  their  de- 
parture at  the  very  time  when  they  are  in  the 
exercise  of  the  most  beneficial  influence  may  give  to 
their  example  a  force  which  it  could  not  have  during 
their  lives,  causing  it  to  make  an  impression  deep  in 
proportion  to  the  loss  that  is  felt.  A  good  man  is 
never  more  valued  than  when  he  is  missed,  and  his 
character  never  so  fruitful  in  wholesome  suggestions 
and  holy  impulses  as  when  it  disappears  from  actual 
observation.  Let  it  also  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the 
removal  of  those  on  whom  we  have  leaned  compels 
us  to  put  our  trust  in  God.  It  is  good  for  man  to  be 
reminded  of  his  dependence  on  an  unseen  Power, 
that  cares  for  him.  The  presence  of  earthly  bene- 
factors may  render  a  community  insensible  to  their 
need  of  a  Heavenly  Protector.  The  disappearance, 
moreover,  of  those  whose  connection  with  the  progress 
of  society,  we  were  almost  tempted  to  think,  gave 
them  a  security  against  death,  brings  the  fact  of  our 
own  mortality  out  of  the  Crowd  of  other  thoughts  in 
which  it  is  lost  from  view,  and  fastens  our  contempla- 
tion on  a  theme  full  of  salutary  counsel.  The  effect 
should  also  be  considered  of  the  change,  through  which 
they  have  passed,  on  those  whose  usefulness  here 
is  closed  by  the  summons  to  another  world.  That 
world  may  need  them  too  ;  at  least,  it  will  offer  them 
opportunities  of  continued  service  for  the  good  of  oth- 
ers. Larger  spheres  of  influence  will  be  opened  to 
them ;  and  nobler  purposes,  inspired  by  the  scenes 
around  them,  may  be  executed  with  a  fuller  measure 


19 

of  satisfaction.  Oh !  never  complain,  nor  wonder,  that 
they  who  were  doing  the  most  good  here  have  been 
called  to  bear  their  part  in  the  philanthropy  of  heav- 
en. The  principle  is  too  obviously  just  to  be  disput- 
ed, and  too  common  among  men  to  be  denied,  that  he 
who  has  been  faithful  in  a  lower  situation  shall  be 
raised  to  a  hig-her.  A  useful  life  contains  within  itself 

O 

the  promise  of  a  not  distant  immortality. 

While,  therefore,  wre  rejoice  in  the  lives  of  those 
who  write  their  names  on  the  grateful  hearts  of  their 
fellowmen,  we  acknowledge  the  justice  of  that  Provi- 
dence which  interrupts  their  labours  and  deprives  us 
of  their  services. 

Still  we  cannot  but  feel  the  keenness  of  our  own 
disappointment.  There  would  be  no  room  for  sub- 
mission, if  there  were  no  pain  at  our  loss.  The  more 
poignant  our  distress,  the  more  decisive  may  be  the 
proof  of  our  faith  in  God.  When  they  whom  we  love 
and  whom  the  community  has  learned  to  value  die, 
we  mourn,  though  we  may  not  repine.  We  wander 
through  the  places  "which  have  known  them,  but 
shall  know  them  no  more,"  with  a  sense  of  bereave- 
ment which  every  association  of  the  scene  with  their 
generous  activity  renders  more  oppressive. 

With  such  feelings  do  we  look  on  the  scenes  winch 
here  surround  us.  As  I  have  sat  down  amidst  the  as- 
sociations which  this  place  recals,  it  has  seemed  to  me 
that  the  cry  of  sorrow  was  the  only  sound  which  be- 
fitted the  hour.  I  have  been  moved  to  throw  aside 
what  I  had  prepared,  and  speak  of  nothing  but  the 


20 

oreatness  of  our   loss.     But   we   may   not,  in  the  in- 

O 

diligence  of  our  grief,  refuse  the  instruction  or  the 
comfort  which  God  offers  us.  The  termination  of  a 
useful  life  should  engrave  the  truths  it  illustrates  up- 
on hearts  which  suffering  makes  tender.  This  village 
abounds  with  memorials  of  our  friend.  They  invite 
us  to  speak  of  his  character. 

The  early  life  of  Charles  Paine  was  passed  under 
circumstances  suited  to  prepare  him  for  the  part  he 
afterwards  filled.  Born  almost  on  the  commencement 
of  a  century  remarkable  for  its  control  of  mechanical 
agencies  and  the  development  of  popular  institutions, 
he  entered  on  the  period  of  his  vigour  at  a  time  most 
favorable  for  the  exercise  of  his  peculiar  abilities. 
His  father,  the  late  Judge  Paine,  was  one  of  the  most 
honorable  citizens  of  the  State,  and  merited  the  re- 
spect which  was  awarded  him.  The  influences  of  his 
home  doubtless  laid  the  foundation  of  that  character 
which  in  subsequent  life  raised  the  son  to  a  not  less 
conspicuous  position.  Amidst  the  green  hills  of  his 
birth-place  he  breathed  the  air  of  a  manly  freedom 
and  a  virtuous  energy.  Nature  spoke  to  him  in  her 
clear  and  sweet  tones,  and  he  listened  with  the  delight 
of  uncorrupted  youth.  Surrounded  by  a  yeomanry 
that  have  ever  maintained  a  frank  independence  in 
union  with  honest  industry, — intelligent,  brave,  and 
hospitable,  free  from  the  vices  of  suburban  communi- 
ties, and  strong  in  theirlocal  attachments,— he  acquir- 
ed the  traits  which  ripened  into  a  wise  and  noble  man- 
hood, The  love  of  his  native  State,  the  inborn  pas- 
sion of  every  son  of  Vermont,  lost  none  of  its  fervour 
as  his  judgment  grew  more  mature.  He  loved  her 


21 

mountains  and  her  streams,  her  history  and  her  peo- 
ple. At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  became  a  member 
of  Harvard  College.  It  was  there  that  my  acquain- 
tance with  him  began,  and  there  that  the  bonds  of 
friendship,  which  four  years  of  a  common  experience 
and  thirty  }7ears  of  various  fortunes  served  but  to 
strengthen,  were  knit  between  him 'and  his  fellow-stu- 
dents ;  among  whom  was  not  one  who  regarded  him 
with  any  other  feelings  than  those  of  respect  and  es- 
teem. Thirty-five  years  after  they  first  met  in  the 
halls  of  Cambridge,  nearly  one  half  of  the  surviving 
members  of  his  class  were  assembled,  by  his  invita- 
tion, around  the  board  which  was  here  spread  with  an 
ample  hospitality.  I  recall  that  scene  with  special  in- 
terest, for  it  shows  me  the  host  and  friend  happy  in 
the  sympathies  of  an  occasion  which  he  made  delight- 
ful to  others.  I  see  his  erect  form,  his  open  face,  his 
princely  demeanour.  I  hear  his  words  of  cordial  greetr 
ing,  and  feel  no  painful  obligation,  since  I  am  sure 
that  his  enjoyment  of  the  re-union  for  which  we  are 
indebted  to  him  is  not  less  than  ours.  Thanks  to  him, 
whose  hand  we  shall  never  grasp  again,  for  the  inef- 
faceable recollections  of  that  day ! 

During  his  collegiate  course  Mr.  Paine  maintained 
an  unblemished  character.  He  sought  hot  literary 
eminence,  and  acquired  no  distinction  either  by  brill- 
iancy of  parts  or  depth  of  scholarship.  But  he  avoid- 
ed, as  with  an  intuitive  sense  of  propriety,  the  follies 
as  well  as  the  vices  into  which  they  who  are  not  guar- 
ded by  studious  habits  so  often  fall,  and  graduated 
without  a  reproach  011  his  name.  Returning  to  his 
home,  he  assumed  at  once  the  discharge  of  those 


22 


duties  to  which  filial  love  and  respect  prompted 
him,  and  if  youthful  ambition  ever  stirred  his  heart, 
it  did  not  disturb  the  diligent  prosecution  of  a  busi- 
ness which  soon  exhibited  the  results  of  his  energetic 
management.  I  well  remember  his  narration  of  the 

O 

circumstances  under  which  he  took  on  himself  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  a  more  independent  life.  They  show- 
ed the  quality  of  the  men, — the  father's  sense  of  jus- 
tice, the  son's  consciousness  of  ability.  He  became  a 
manufacturer,  I  apprehend,  from  the  accident  of  po- 
sition rather  than  from  deliberate  preference.  How 
he  conducted  his  affairs, — how  honorable  he  was  in 
his  dealings,  how  attentive  to  the  cares  that  devolved 
on  him,  how  quick  to  perceive  and  ready  to  allow  the 
claims  of  others,  how  free  from  pride  and  pretension, 
how  ardent  in  his  desire  to  befriend  every  one  who 
came  within  the  reach  of  his  encouragement  or  his 
help,  you  who  hear  me  need  not  that  I  should  tell.  As 
his  character  became  more  extensively  known,  the 
public  confidence  was  drawn  to  him.  He  aspired  to 
no  civil  honor,  and  yet  the  highest  office  in  the  State 
was  thrust  upon  him  at  an  unusually  early  age.  It 
was  the  reward  of  consistent  political  action  and  well 
established  private  worth.  Sincerely  attached  to  one 
of  the  parties,  in  whose  mutual  jealousy  and  recipro- 
cal influence  is  found  the  safety  of  our  institutions,  he 
advocated  the  principles  and  supported  the  measures 
which  he  believed  to  be  most  conducive  to  the  public 
interest;  but  never  substituted  passion  for  firmness, 
falsehood  for  argument,  or  intrigue  for  honorable  con- 
duct. Upon  his  administration  of  the  office  that  came 
to  him  unsought  he  wished  the  people  to  pass  their 


23 

judgment,  which  was  affirmed  in  his  re-election ;  after 
which  he  retired  from  public  life. 

Such  at  least  would  be  the  record  of  the 'political 
historian.  And  yet  it  was  then  that  Gov.  Paine's  re- 
lation to  the  country  became  most  important  and  his  in- 
fluence most  extensive.  From  the  hour  at  which  he  left 
the  chief  magistracy  of  the  State  almost  to  the  close 
of  his  life  he  devoted  himself,  with  a  zeal  and  a  per- 
sistency that  I  may  say  have  never  been  surpassed,  to 
one  of  those  great  public  enterprises  of  which  future 
generations  will  reap  the  benefit  in  results  of  which 
we  can  form  but  an  imperfect  conception.  For  eight 
years  his  name  and  his  history  were  identified  with 
the  progress  of  that  enterprise ;  and  I  believe  I  am 
sustained  by  the  judgment  of  those  best  qualified  to 
speak  on  this  subject,  in  saying  that  its  completion  is 
due  to  his  indefatigable  energy.  Sanguine  but  not 
rash,  firm,  without  obstinacy,  fertile  in  wise  expedi- 
ents, creative  of  resources  through  the  confidence  he 
inspired,  laborious,  sparing  neither  mind  nor  body, 
ready  to  accumulate  on  himself  cares,  however  weigh- 
ty, which  he  understood,  but  refusing  responsibilities 
for  which  he  did  not  think  he  had  the  proper  qualifi- 
cation, he  did  what  few  men  could  have  done  and 
what  few  men  would  have  dared  to  undertake.  He 
encountered  unexpected  difficulties,  but  they  did  not 
discourage  him.  He  met  with  long  delays,  but  they 
did  not  weary  his  hope.  He  endured  the  trial  of  im- 
patient and  censorious  tongues,  but  they  did  not  ruf- 
fle his  temper  nor  shake  his  conviction.  He  persever- 
ed, and  he  succeeded.  The  work  to  which  he  had 
pledged  his  name  and  his  heart  was  completed.  Its 


24 

practicability  was  proved  by  the  fact,  and  its  utility 
he  was  willing  to  leave  for  time  to  establish.  New 
embarrassments  arose,  before  which  many  of  its  early 
friends  yielded  to  despondency,  but  not  he.  Still  res- 
olute in  mind,  unwearied  in  toil,  he  struggled  against 
disaster,  and  out  of  the  midst  of  perplexity  achieved 
success.  I  do  not  claim  for  him  a  judgment  inca- 
pable of  error,  but  I  do  impute  to  him  a  heart  void  of 
wrong  purpose  and  a  life  on  which  no  stain  of  dishon- 
or ever  rested.  I  do  not  know  that  his  anticipations  in 
regard  to  the  value  of  the  enterprise  which  he  es- 
poused, and  with  which,  as  he  himself  said,  he  would 
allow  no  domestic  cares  to  divide  his  thoughts,  will 
ever  be  realized;  but  I  do  affirm  that  this  work  will  bear 
witness  to  the  force  of  his  character  and  the  disinter- 
estedness of  his  perseverance  so  long  as  it  shall  en- 
dure. It  was  not  for  personal  ends  that  he  labored. 
He  saw  that  a  great  benefit  might  be  secured  for  the 
State  which  he  loved,  and  the  country  of  Avhich  that 
State  was  a  component  part.  He  believed  that  inter- 
course between  communities  and  nations  is  a  means 
of  ameliorating  character,  as  well  as  of  increasing  ma- 
terial prosperity.  The  magnitude  of  his  hopes  proved 
the  generosity  of  his  heart  not.  less  than  the  grasp  of 
his  mind.  The  iron  pathway  which  he  carried  across 
the  breadth  of  this  fair  Commonwealth  was  in  his 
view  one  of  the  avenues,  which  a  progressive  civiliza- 
tion and  a  diffusive  humanity  would  use  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  beneficent  design  of  Providence 
in  bestowing  upon  men  common  wants  and  a  mutual 
dependence.  Such  was  his  grand  and  prophetic  idea. 
And  now  that  it  stands  in  substantial  realization  be- 
fore the  eye  and  judgment  of  the  world,  while  he  is 


no  longer  here,  let  it  be  his  monument.  He  needs  no 
other,  and  no  other  could  so  well  declare  the  traits 
which  distinguished  him. 

Gov,  Paine's  last  undertaking  was  conceived  in  the 
same  spirit  that  had  been  shown  in  the  history  to 
which  we  have  alluded.  The  trains  of  thought  with 
which  he  had  become  familiar  had  prepared  him  to 
appreciate  the  importance  of  an  enterprise  of  still  lar- 
ger promise  than  that  in  which  he  had  been  engag- 
ed ;  and  he  no  sooner  found  himself  released,  with- 
out any  evasion  of  responsibleness,  from  the  charge 
which  had  borne  so  heavily  upon  him,  than  he  turn- 
ed his  attention  to  the  means  of  communication  be- 
tween the  great  central  valley  and  the  Pacific  shore 
of  o>ir  Republic.  With  the  same  confidence  and  en- 
ergy that  he  had  displayed  on  the  scene  of  his  past  la- 
bors, he  adopted  the  preliminary  measures  for  bring- 
ing his  persuasions  to  a  practical  issue,  and  while  oth- 
ers talked  or  wrote  in  their  pleasant  homes,  he  accep- 
ted the  fatigues  and  perils  of  travel  through  an  al- 
most unknown  region.  On  this  journey  the  constitu- 
tion which  had  begun  to  feel  the  pressure  of  exces- 
sive care  and  labor,  gave  wray  under  exposure  to  se- 
vere trial.  He  sickened  and  died  far  from  his  home. 
Yet,  it  is  grateful  to  know,  not  without  faithful  watch- 
ing and  the  best  medical  attendance.  He  died  at  the 
meridian  hour  of  life  ;  but  not  without  a  long  cata- 
logue of  useful  services  registered  on  the  memories  of 
his  fellowmen.  He  died  at  the  moment  when  he  may 
have  felt  the  strongest  wish  to  live ;  but  he  believed 
in  that  God  who  cloeth  all  things  well,  and  in  that 
Gospel  which  contains  the  revelation  of  immortality. 


«- 


26 

He  died  when  we  may  have  most  desired  to  keep 
him  with  us,  that  we  might  reward  him  for  the  past 
by  new  expressions  of  confidence  in  his  integrity  and 
reliance  on  his  wisdom  ;  but  we  have  learned  nothing, 
if  we  have  not  yet  been  taught  the  lesson  of  submis- 
sion to  that  Will  which  uses  bereavement  often  as 
the  channel  of  its  richest  blessings. 

The  character  of  our  friend  needs  no  other  deline- 
ation than  it  receives  as  we  sketch  his  career.  Ener- 
gy, integrity  and  disinterestedness  were  its  prominent 
features.  Before  this  audience,  composed  of  his  per- 
sonal friends  and  of  those  with  whom  he  lived  in  the 
familiarity  of  neighborhood,  it  would  be  scarcely  de- 
cent for  me  to  adduce  illustrations  of  the  qualities  of 
mind  and  heart  of  which  they  were  daily  witnessing 
the  exhibition.  This  village,  in  every  stroke  of  its 
industry  and  every  mark  of  its  prosperit}7",  bears  evi- 
dence of  his  fostering  care.  This  community,  by 
their  unrestrained  grief  at  the  intelligence  of  his 
death  and  by  the  terms  in  which  they  have  express- 
ed their  sense  of  bereavement,  have  declared  in  what 
estimation  he  was  held.  This  assembly,  collected  from 
distant  places  to  pay  the  sad  tribute  of  funereal  hon- 
or to  his  name,  betokens  the  impression  he  made  on 
those  with  whom  he  practised  no  concealment  and  in 
whose  justice  he  confided. 

Gov.  Paine  was  not  a  man  of  professions.  His 
words  were  not  many,  and  they  were  never  uttered 
to  secure  admiration  or  to  forestall  an  impartial  judg- 
ment. It  is  not  strange  therefore  that  he  said  little 
on  the  subject  of  religion.  But  such  actions  as  speak 


27 

more  loudly  than  words  attest  both  the  reality  and 
the  character  of  his  faith.  This  edifice  is  a  memori- 
al of  the  value  he  set  on  the  institution  of  public  wor- 
ship and  an  unsectarian  administration  of  religious 
truth.  On  this  point  he  was  strenuous  and  consistent. 
The  most  emphatic  disapproval  of  dogmatic  exclu- 
siveness  which  he  could  have  left,  as  well  as  the  most 
decisive  testimony  to  his  faith  in  the  great  Christian 
truths,  is  given  in  the  paper  by  which  he  makes  a  fi- 
nal disposition  of  his  property. 

This  remarkable  document  contains  also  unim- 
peachable proof  of  that  disinterested  concern  for  the 
good  of  others  and  that  desire  to  see  all  classes  of 
the  people  enjoying  the  means  of  knoAvledge,  virtue 
and  happiness,  which,  I  think,  gave  to  his  character 
its  largest  claim  on  our  fond  remembrance.  As  a  testa- 

O 

mentary  provision,  I  should  not  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  it  is  without  a  parallel.  Brief  but  distinct  in 
its  language,  it  is  as  peculiar  for  the  modesty  as  for 
the  liberality  which  it  evinces.  Leaving  all  details  to 
the  friends  in  whom  he  reposes  the  utmost  confidence, 
and  avoiding  any  suggestion  that  might  have  the  ef- 
fect of  connecting  his  name  with  the  uses  to  which 
his  bequest  may  be  put,  he  only  requires  of  those 
wliom  he  appoints  as  Trustees,  that,  after  assisting 
such  persons  at  they  may  think  have  any  claim  aris- 
ing from  consanguinity,  friendship,  or  obligation  in- 
curred by  him,  they  "  use  and  appropriate  whatever 
property  he  may  die  possessed  of  for  the  best  good 
and  welfare  of  his  fellowmen, — to  assist  in  the  im- 
provement of  mankind ;  recommending  that  they  do 
it  without  sectarianism  or  bigotry,  according  to  the 


28 

intention  of  that  God  whose  will  is  found  in  the  law 
of  the  Christian  religion,  in  which,"  he  adds,  "  I  be- 
lieve and  trust."  What  could  be  more  characteristic, 
or  more  admirable  ? 

The  manuscript  from  which  I  have  quoted  bears  a 
date  somewhat  distant  from  the  present  time.  But, 
if  evidence  were  needed  that  he  retained  the  same 
feelings  to  the  close  of  his  life,  it  is  furnished,  to  say 
nothing  of  other  facts,  by  an  incident  which  I  am 
permitted  to  relate.  A  short  time  before  his  depart- 
ure for  Texas,  Mr.  Paine  was  reminded  by  a  friend 
that  he  had  never  made  an  explicit  declaration  of 
his  religious  belief,  and  was  requested  to  say  what 
doctrinal  tenets  he  had  adopted.  After  a  moment's 
hesitation,  he  took  from  his  pocket  a  slip  of  paper 
bearing  the  stains  of  age  and  use,  which  lie  gave  to 
his  friend  and  said,  "  There  is  my  creed."  It  contain- 
ed the  well  known  lines  of  Leigh  Hunt ;  which,  fa- 
miliar as  they  may  be,  no  one  probably  will  complain 
of  my  repeating  in  this  connection. 


Aboii  Ben  Adhem  (may  his  tribe  increase  !) 

Awoke  one  night  from  a  deep  dream  of  peace, 

And  saw  within  the  moonlight  in  his  room, 

Making  it  rich  and  like  a  lily  in  bloom, 

An  angel  writing  in  a  book  of  gold. 

Exceeding  peace  had  made  Ben  Adhem  bold : 

And  to  the  presence  in  the  room  he  said, 

41  What  writest  thou  V"     The  vision  raised  its  head, 

And,  with  a  look  made  all  of  sweet  accord, 

Answered  "  The  names  of  those  who  love  the  Lord." 

"  And  is  mine  one  V"  said  Abou.     "  Nay,  not  so," 

Ilc-plu-d  the  angel.     Abou  spoke  more  low, 

But  chcerly  still ;  and  said,  "  I  pray  thee.  then, 

AY  rite  me  as  one  that  loves  his  fellowmen." 

The  angel  wrote,  and  vanished.  .The  next  night 

It  came  again,  with  a  great  wakening  light, 

And  showed  the  names  whom  love  of  God  had  blest, 

And  lo !     Ben  Adhem's  name  led  all  the  rest. 


29 

Grievous  is  the  loss  which  falls  on  a  community,  in 
the  death  of  one  who  aims  to  make  his  life  an  illus- 
tration of  the  sentiment  conveyed  in  these  lines. 
Such  men  there  are  ;  though  alas !  but  few  ;  men  who 
believe  that  they  shall  best  please  God  by  showing 
their  love  of  their  fellowmen.  It  might  not  be  safe 
for  all  to  take  this  as  an  abstract  of  Christian  doctrine; 
but,  under  the  interpretation  of  sound  and  humble 
thought,  we  have  the  authority  of  an  Apostto  for  main- 
taining that  it  cannot  greatly  mislead  any  one,  for 
St.  John  affirms  that,  "  if  we  love  one  another,  God 
dwelleth  in  us ;"  and,  under  the  most  perverse  miscon- 
struction, it  will  be  better  than  many  a  nicely  adjusted 
formulary  of  belief. 

Deep  and  wide-spread  must  be  the  sorrow,  when 
one  who  has  "  looked  not  on  his  own  things,  but  also 
on  the  things  of  others"  is  taken  from  the  sphere  of 
his  visible  usefulness.  Great  will  be  the  lamentation, 
as  on  this  day ;  but  let  it  not  borrow  the  tone  of  com- 
plaint or  despair.  We  are  tempted  to  think  that  God 
is  unmindful  of  our  necessities,  when  those  on  whom 
we  have  depended  are  borne  out  of  our  sight.  It  is 
an  unjust  and  sinful  thought.  The  eye  of  faith  dis- 
cerns the  Divine  goodness  in  the  summer's  heat  which 
drinks  up  the  rivulets  and  in  the  winter's  cold  which 
binds  them  with  icy  fetters,  as  well  as  in  the  vernal  or 
autumnal  rains  which  cause  them  to  rush  down  the 
mountain's  side  or  flow  joyfully  through  the  plain. 
God  never  forgets  us.  Let  the  sorrowful  wait  on  him 
in  patient  suffering,  and  he  Avill  hold  up  their  hearts 
and  guide  their  steps. 


30 

Heavy  is  the  loss  which  society  is  called  to  bear, 
when  the  useful  are  taken  away ;  but  in  part  will 
there  be  a  compensation,  if  others  are  moved  to  copy 
their  example.  Nothing  is  more  needed  in  this  coun- 
try than  disinterested  devotion  to  the  people's  good. 
Active  and  forcible  lives  are  the  product  of  such  in- 
stitutions and  such  opportunities  as  ours ;  but  what 
are  activity  and  force  if  controlled  by  selfishness. 
Patriotism  and  philanthropy  have  become  equivocal 
names.  We  want  men  of  high  principle  and  gener- 
ous purpose,  who  in  the  fear  of  God  will  labor  to  pro- 
mote the  true  welfare  of  their  fellow-beings.  Hon- 
ored and  treasured  in  the  grateful  love  of  every  heart 
be  a  life  spent  for  the  good  of  other.  Its  presence  is 
a  benediction,  and  its  influence  abides  when  its  pres- 
ence is  withdrawn. 

A  gloom  hangs  over  the  village  in  the  warm  sum- 
mer's day.  The  sky  is  clear,  and  the  air  is  healthful ; 
yet  every  aspect  of  nature  is  sad,  and  the  scene  around 
us  impresses  us  like  a  funereal  monument.  And  such 
it  is.  Our  hearts  cast  their  own  shadows  upon  the 
landscape.  We  have  come  to  lay  the  remains  of  him 
whom  we  loved  in  the  grave.  He  died  far  away  from 
us  and  from  the  spots  that  were  dear  to  him ;  but  we 
could  not  leave  his  dust  in  that  distant  land.  The 
hope,  tenderly  expressed  in  the  first  anguish  of  be- 
reavement, is  realized: 

"  That  noble  form,  so  proud,  so  calmly  bold," 
I  Shall  "  make  its  last,  sad  resting-place  amid 

The  scenes  he  long  had  loved  and  cherished, 
Within  the  vine-clad  State,  o'er  which  he  was 
A  Ruler." 


31 

Here  will  we  lay  his  mortal  frame,  in  the  grave  which 
he  would  have  chosen,  in  front  of  the  temple  which 
he  built  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
proofs  of  what  he  had  done  for  man.  The  associa- 
tions of  this  hour  shall  henceforth  invest  the  spot. 
Business  and  travel  shall  own  its  sanctity,  and  time 
shall  guard  it  with  watchful  reverence. 


:>< 


EXTRACT. 


FROM  AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  THE 


STATE  AGRICULTURAL  FAIR, 


BURLINGTON,  October  llth,  1853. 
SAMUEL  W.  THAYER,  M.  D. 
DEAR  Sin  :— 

Your  letter,  containing  a  request  to  furnish  for  publication,  that  portion 
of  my  address,  before  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  in  which  allusion 
•was  made  to  the  late  Hon.  Charles  Paine,  has  been  received.  Circum- 
stances beyond  my  control  have  prevented  my  complying  with  it  until 
now.  Agreeable  to  your  wishes,  a  few  paragraphs  have  been  added,  the 
connection  of  which  with  those  of  the  address  is  distinctly  marked. 

Truly,  Yours,  &c. 

JOHN  WHEELER, 


EXTRACT. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  : 

It  cannot  but  have  occurred  to  you,  and  to  most  of 
the  vast  multitude  before  me,  as  we  were  borne  here, 
almost  on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  that  he,  by  whom 
this  has  been  accomplished,  would  not  be  with  us. 
Some  days  since,  a  few  of  us,  in  a  neighboring  village, 
laid  his  remains  in  the  grave,  and  having  said  "  dust 
to  dust,  ashes  to  ashes,"  we  left  his  body  to  pay  back 
the  common  debt,  which  we  all  owe  to  nature.  She 

3 


34 

has  nourished  our  bodies.     We  give  them  back  to  her 
laboratory. 

This  day  would  have  gladdened  his  heart.  He 
looked  forward  to  it  with  delight.  He  would  have 
added  every  way  to  its  interest,  and  its  complete- 
ness. 

Although,  it  is  said,  all  men  are  but  various  contri- 

O      '  9 

butions  to  realize  the  idea  of  Man  ;  as  all  Christians 
are  but  fragmentary  parts  of  the  glorious  idea  of  a 
perfect  one  in  Christ ;  still  this  man  was  possessed  of 
a  form,  which  kings  might  envy,  and  which  sculptors 
might  copy ;  an  agility,  which  athletes  might  emu- 
late, an  eye  before  whose  fiery  glance  warriors  might 
quail,  but  in  whose  sunny  and  gleesome  light,  an  in- 
fant might  smile.  To  these  there  was  added  an  ener- 
gy of  purpose,  and  a  power  of  will,  such  as  would 
give  strength  to  the  weakest ;  a  compass  of  mental 
vision,  and  a  simplicity  and  integrity  of  aim,  which 
would  give  wisdom  to  a  statesman,  a  frank,  open, 
generous  manner,  that  however  he  might  fail  to  be  a 
perfect  man,  he  combined  more  to  represent  Vermont, 
than  perhaps  the  best  of  us. 

To-day  he  could  have  exhibited  perhaps  the  best  of 
Vermont  animals— of  the  stable,  of  the  pasture,  and  of 
humbler  places,  and  also  the  best  products  of  our 
mountain  streams.  He  could  have  told  you  Mr.  Pres- 
ident of  irrigation,  for  which  you  have  offered  a  prize; 
of  the  way,  and  the  success  of  it;  of  fields  burdened 
by  crops  ;  of  barns  overflowing  with  bounteous  pro- 
ducts. And  when  in  imagination,  we  had  wandered 


35 

over  the  hills  of  Williamstown  and  the  vallies  of 
Northfield,  and  seen  not  merely  the  fields  and  their 
products,  but  learned  the  predetermined  purpose  of 
the  cultivator  and  his  typical  success,  he  could  have 
taken  us  to  a  mountain  top,  and  pointed  out  to  us,  as 
his  work,  a  cord  threading  its  way  through  vallies,  over 
rivers,  up  mountain  streams,  through  gorges,  and  anon 
shooting  out  upon  the  lake. 

He  could  have  said  the  state  is  now  bound  togeth- 
er. Mountains,  which  separate  people  \md  convert 
common  friends  to  bitter  enemies,  have  vanished. 
Henceforth  we  are  one  people.  Now  Vermont  may 
plant  one  foot  on  the  Atlantic  shore,  and  gather  of 
the  commerce  of  the  great  East ;  and  the  other  at  the 
falls  of  St.  Anthony  or  St.  Mary,  and  gather  from  the 
rising  empires  of  the  greater  West.  But  for  him,  how 
few  of  us  would  have  been  here  to-day.  But  for  him, 
how  few  products,  Mr.  President,  would  you  have  to 
exhibit  to-day ! 

This  rapid  means  of  intercommunication !  None 
of  us  have  yet  fully  realized  its  effect  in  increasing 
our  productive  wealth,  in  extending  our  practical 
knowledge,  in  awakening  and  keeping  alive  our  affec- 
tions by  the  exercise  of  a  constant  fellowship,  and 
thus  keeping  bright  the  golden  chain  of  fraternal, 
and  of  patriotic  intercourse.  Blessings  on  the  memory 
of  him,  by  whom  this  has  been  made  not  merely  pos- 
sible, but  real  to  us  all !  We  can  do  better  by  imita- 
tating  his  untiring  activity  in  the  public  service ;  we 
can  all  grvw  better,  by  cherishing  his  conspicuous 
virtues. 


•» 


ADDITIONAL    REMARKS. 

Circumstances  of  the  same  imperative  character,  as 
those  above  alluded  to,  prevent  my  adding  any  thing 
more,  than  such  crude  thoughts,  as  arise  in  my  own 
mind.  There  is  no  time  for  the  sifting  examination 
of  facts  and  principles,  which  ought  to  form  both  the 
warp  and  the  woof  of  a  valuable  biographical  sketch. 
Nor  perhaps  has  the  time  yet  arrived,  when  true  and 
ample  justice  can  be  done  to  such  a  man  as  Gov. 
Paine.  The  feelings,  excited  and  abraded  by  active 
strife  in  the  practical  detail  of  labors,  which  touch  up- 
on the  personal  and  individual  interests  of  a  numer- 
ous community,  do  not  permit  a  candid  and  discrimi- 
nating judgment  to  be  formed,  by  the  many  who  may 
have  suffered,  or  the  many  who  have  differed  in  opin- 
ion, or  the  many  who  have  looked  on  for  the  purpose 
of  criticism,  and  with  something  of  the  feeling,  which 
that  commonly  engenders.  Posterity  may  be  more 
just  than  we  are,  either  in  giving,  or  withholding 
praise,  and,  in  regard  to  such  matters,  I  shall  not  at- 
tempt to  antedate  its  decisions. 

Gov.  Paine  was  slightly  known  to  me,  in  early  life, 
as  an  active,  genial,  vigorous  youth,  writh  greater  in- 
clination for  enterprising  adventure  than  for  study. 
He  afterward  bore  that  character  in  his  College  course, 
and  through  subsequent  life.  He  w^as  a  boon  and  genial 
companion,  but  he  possessed  uncommon  power  of  self- 
control.  When  others  seized  the  cup  of  pleasure,  and 
sunk  under  the  power  of  the  draught,  he  but  touch- 
ed his  lips,  and  resolutely  and  successfully  refused  to 
yield  to  its  temptations.  Considering  the  position  of 


37 

his  family,  the  habits  of  college,  and  of  generous  so- 
ciety, at  the  period  of  his  youth  and  early  manhood, 
no  one  can  be  other  than  surprised  at  the  self-control, 
the  integrity  of  purpose,  and  the  freedom  from  vicious 
indulgence  which  characterized  him.  No  company 
kept  him  from  an  engagement,  no  present  gratifica- 
tion was  allowed  to  trespass  for  a  moment,  on  a  pub- 
lic, or  a  private  duty. 

On  his  return  from  College,  as  I  have  heard  say,  he 
showed  no  inclination  for  professional  study,  but  ask- 
ed to  enter  upon  the  employments  of  practical  life, 
both  to  lessen  the  labors  of  his  father,  and  to  advance 
his  interests.  This  he  was  allowed  to  do,  without 
much  thought  that  he  would  do  otherwise  than  soon 
grow  weary  of  it,  and  call  for  a  different  mode  of  em- 
ployment. "I  wras  greatly  surprised"  his  father  said, 
"at  the  readiness  with  which  he  took  hold  of  labor, 
the  energy  with  which  he  followed  it,  and  the  capacity 
and  completeness  with  which  he  finished  it.  I  found 
he  could  do  as  much  and  as  well,  as  I  could  in  my 
best  days."  Those  of  us,  who  live  in  Vermont,  know 
that  such  a  parent  could  scarcely  give  higher  praise. 

In  connection  with  his  father,  and  then  with  some 
others,  he  was  among  the  first,  who  introduced  the 
successful  manufacture  of  woolen  cloths  on  a  large 
scale,  in  this  state.  His  whole  attention  and  mind  was 
given  to  this  for  several  years.  He  studied  machine- 
ry, and  introduced  various  valuable  improvements  in 
the  working  of  it,  under  his  own  eye.  Although  sel- 
dom inclined  to  original  invention,  and  perhaps  could 
not,  in  that  respect  be  called  an  inventive  genius,  he 


38 

saw,  often  at  a  glance,  the  necessity  and  the  method 
of  simplifying  what  was  before  him.  In  this  way,  val- 
uable suggestions  were  constantly  dropping  from  his 
lips.  Herein  he  manifested  that  straightforward  sim- 
plicity of  purpose  and  aim,  which  was  a  personal  char- 
acteristic of  the  man,  and  which  is  the  principle  ele- 
ment of  greatness  alike  in  public,  and  in  private  life. 
This  employment  led  him,  at  an  early  day,  to  examine 
the  relation  of  the  government  of  the  nation,  to  the 
progress  of  manufacture,  and  to  the  increase  of  pay 
for  labor.  He  became  an  earnest  advocate  for  the  pro- 
tective policy,  and,  as  his  father  had  adopted  the  same 
views,  their  opinions  aided  much  in  producing  that 
unity  of  opinion,  on  that  subject,  which  has  so  long 
characterized  this  State. 

He  was  two  years  Governor  of  the  State.  During 
that  period,  there  were  no  questions  of  great  moment 
agitated,  or  called  into  notice.  His  administration  was 
marked  by  no  extraordinary  events,  but  there  was  a 
vigorous  and  constant  Avatchfumess,  which  gave  confi- 
dence to  all,  that  nothing  would  be  left  undone.  A 
new  system  of  keeping  the  accounts  of  the  treasury, 
and  a  more  stringent  method  of  accounting  for  the 
public  money  was  introduced  in  certain  quarters,  which 
gave  accuracy  and  power  to  the  public  administration. 
He  also  gave  much  and  diligent  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject of  a  system  of  education  for  the  state.  No  at- 
tempt had  been,  at  that  time,  made  to  organize  a  Board 
of  supervision  of  common  schools.  He  examined  the 
subject  carefully,  and  wished  to  bind  the  existing  parts 
of  the  system  into  a  harmonious  whole.  He  wished,  if 
possible,  to  infuse  the  culture  of  the  highest  institu- 


39 

tions,  into  the  lower  and  more  dependent.  He  would 
have  made  the  College,  the  Academy  and  the  Com- 
mon schools  part  and  parcel  of  one  system,  and  con- 
nected them  together  by  mutual  relation,  and  thus 
given  harmony  and  unity  to  the  present  disjointed 
scheme.  He  would  have  had  the  higher,  the  more 
accurate,  and  the  more  comprehensive  knowledge  of 
the  college  represented  in  the  academy  ;  that  of  the 
academy  in  the  central  school  of  the  larger  towns,  and 
that  of  the  central  in  the  small  primary  schools,  in 
the  surrounding  districts.  In  this  way,  he  believed 
that  the  whole  of  the  best  culture  of  the  state  would 
be  made  most  available  for  the  benefit  of  each  and 
every  part  of  it.  He  Avas  sad  at  finding  that  the  ri- 
valry of  existing  institutions,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
apathy,  and  indifference,  and  ignorance  on  the  other 
rendered  it  impossible  to  accomplish  any  thing.  Af- 
ter attending  one  or  two  conventions  for  the  purpose 
of  devising,  and  if  possible  of  perfecting  a  system  for 
legislative  action  he  thought  nothing,  but  the  attempt 
to  diffuse  information,  could  then  be  done.  He  judg- 
ed correctly  as  subsequent  events  have  shown.  Much 
more,  however,  was  accomplished  by  statistical  inqui- 
ry, and  by  examination  of  the  best  system  of  public 
education,  than  the  public  have  been  aware  of.  The 
interest  he  took  in  the  subject  of  education  was  deep, 
strong  and  effective.  He  was  many  years  one  of  the 
most  efficient  members  of  the  Corporation  of  the 
University  of  Vermont.  He  was  always  present,  and  re- 
mained to  complete  the  business  of  the  session.  While 
connected  with  it,  he  was  certainly  one  of  the  wisest, 
one  of  the  most  disinterested,  and  one  of  the  most 
sagacious  of  its  guardians.  He  generously  subscribed 


40 

the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars  to  complete  a  large 
subscription  for  the  university,  if  it  should  be  necessa- 
ry; and  T  knew  it  to  have  been  his  intention,  in  cer- 
tain contingencies,  to  have  connected  his  name  per- 
manently with  that  institution,  as  the  founder  of  one 
or  more  of  its  professorships.  "  Vermont  has  nour- 
ished me  in  her  bosom,  he  used  to  say,  and  I  owe  to 
her  character  and  her  institutions  much,  very  much 
of  what  I  am,  and  what  I  can  be,  and  it  is  but  due  to 
such  relations,  that  I  should  help  to  sustain  her  high- 
est institution  of  learning." 

It  so  happened,  that  soon  after  the  organization  of 
the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Vermont  Central  Rail- 
road when  Gov.  Paine  was  President,  I  was  quite  un- 
expectedly often  placed  in  his  society,  and  was  early 
made  acquainted  with  his  purposes,  and  occasionally 
with  his  plans.  The  public  relations  he  had  sustained 
to  the  state,  and  the  deep  interest  he  took  in  its  pros- 
perity, and  the  strong  wish  he  had  to  remove  the  ob- 
stacles, which  its  inland  character  presented  to  the  in- 
crease of  its  exchangeable  wealth,  seemed  to  him  to 
form  a  call  of  duty,  which  he  was  not  at  liberty  to  re- 
fuse. He  accepted  of  the  position,  which  was  urged 
upon  him.  The  disinterestedness  with  which  this 
was  done,  the  patriotic  feeling  for  Vermont  in  which 
it  was  grounded,  the  belief  that  the  population  of  the 
state  would  be  increased,  and  rendered  more  perma- 
nent ;  that  the  institutions  of  learning  would  be  more 
widely  useful,  and  that  the  influence  and  example  of 
the  state  would  be  more  appreciated  and  felt,  and  thus 
that  the  best  interests  of  the  community  would  be  sub- 
served, these,  as  the  moving  ideas  and  active  thoughts 


1 


41 

of  the  man,  certainly  should  command  the  regard,  and 
the  unfeigned  respect  of  every  worthy  citizen.  He 
soon  met  with  unexpected  rebuffs  and  difficulties,  and 
I  personally  know  that  he  only  overcame  them  by 
such,  and  such-like  considerations. 

Many,  very  many,  of  his  original  wishes  and  plans 
were  thwarted  by  means  and  in  ways,  which  he  could 
not  personally  control.  And,  in  some  things,  doubt- 
less the  ardor  of  his  feelings,  and  the  quick  and  firm 
determination  of  his  will  placed  matters  in  an  immove- 
able  position,  which  time  and  patience  might  have 
otherwise  accommodated.  His  opinion  of  the  loca- 
tion of  the  central  portion  of  the  road,  was  unequiv- 
ocally sustained  by  the  best  corps  of  engineers,  which 
New  England  could  then  furnish.  The  decision  is 
now  a  matter  of  historic  record,  on  which  they  have 
staked  their  character,  as  professional  men. 

His  wish,  his  expectations,  and  his  plans  for  the 
central  point  of  communication,  and  of  labor  for  the 
road  were  arranged  in  his  mind  for  another  place,  than 
that  where  they  were  located,  under  circumstances 
personally  disagreeable  to  himself.  It  was  his  origi- 
nal purpose  to  have  given  to  the  capital  of  the  State, 
and  its  immediate  vicinity,  all  the  advantages  which 
it  was  possible  for  the  head  and  central  working  of 
the  road  to  give.  Whatever  causes  may  have  pre- 
vented this,  and  changed  the  arrangements,  they  were 
of  a  character  not  so  much  to  impugn  Gov.  Paine's 
disinterestedness,  as  to  show  his  forecast  respecting 
the  necessary  demands,  which  the  business  of  the  road 
would  make  for  space  and  accommodation.  I  have 


42 

already  alluded  to  the  conflicting  opinions,  which  have 
existed,  and  which  still  exist,  as  to  many  of  the  de- 
tails of  that  great  work,  in  many  of  which  his  longest 
and  most  valuable  friends  differed  from  him,  but  which 
it  does  not  at  all  comport  with  my  purpose  to  inquire 
into.  These  should  not,  however,  draw  us  away  from 
looking  to  him  as  the  moving  power  in  the  great  work, 
nor  from  a  due  appreciation  of  his  surprising  forecast, 
of  his  inflexible  determination  and  of  his  unceasing  ac- 
tivity, in  accomplishing  it. 

Circumstances  do  not  change  the  real,  substantial 
character  of  men,  but  they  often  present  the  charac- 
ter in  a  single  aspect,  and  give  to  that  a  prominence 
which  mars  the  harmony,  which  truly  belongs  to  it. 
It  is  only  known  to  the  public  perhaps,  by  what  they 
happened  to  see,  at  a  given  time,  or  during  a  single 
business,  and  it  is  judged  of  accordingly.  The  under- 
laying principles,  or  the  interior  affections,  and  moral 
feelings  are  quite  hidden  from  the  view.  Few  would 
have  thought  Gov.  Paine,  remarkable,  as  he  certainly 
was,  for  parental  reverence  ; — that  it  wras  perhaps  the 
strongest  affection  of  his  heart,  and  the  one,  which  ex- 
ercised more  controling  influence  in  the  formation  of 
most  of  his  habits,  than  any  other.  One,  who  had  been 
acquainted  with  his  father,  could  see,  in  a  moment 
how  this  and  that  trait  had  been  called  forth  and 
strengthened,  and  filled  with  might,  by  filial  reverence 
sustained  by  frequent  remembrance  and  meditation 
upon  the  Roman  virtues  of  that  just  Judge.  Indeed 
Vermont  herself  is  far  more  indebted,  than  the  present 
generation  are  aware  of,  for  the  integrity,  the  energy, 
the  open  honesty,  and  the  general  truthfulness  of  the 


43 

business  habits  of  her  people,  to  the  long  continued 
and  eminent  example  of  that  man,  and  such  as  he, 
primus  inter  pares  in  these  particulars,  than  perhaps 
to  any  other  external  cause. 

The  Gov.  was  passionately  attached  to  the  memory, 
and  he  strove  to  imitate  the  habits,  and  to  exhibit  the 
character  of  his  father.  His  domestic  affections,  bcino- 

'  O 

shut  out  from  ordinary  family  relations,  clustered 
about  his  parents,  and  he  delighted  to  dwell  upon  the 
truth  loving  integrity  of  the  one,  and  the  rich,  genial, 
numerous,  and  spicy  character  of  the  other.  Although 
formed  for  the  stern  vigor  of  battling  enterpiize.  he 
loved  domestic  quiet ;  he  rejoiced  in  the  amenities, 
the  tender  charities,  and  in  the  genial  sympathies  of 
the  household  hearth  ;  and  never  did  the  blood  flush 
his  face  quicker,  or  his  words  become  stronger,  than 
when  respect,  and  rightful  regard,  and  faithful  pro- 
tection was  not  awarded  to  the  wife,  and  mistress  of 
a  house. 

He  attached  little  importance  to  forms,  and  modes, 
and  professions  of  any  kind.  "  What  will  you  do  ?" 
"  what  will  you  be  ?"  were  his  questions ;  not  what 
will  you  promise  or  profess.  This  connection  of  being 
and  doing  in  his  mind  made  him  averse  to  religious 
professions,  and  at  the  same  time  tolerant  of  a  pro- 
found and  thoughtful  religious  life,  even  of  the  sterner 
kind.  But  then  it  must  be  a  true  life,  sustaining  it- 
self, not  by  its  forms,  but  by  its  deep  and  thoughtful 
meditation,  or  it  did  not  gain  his  respect.  Although 
a  different  opinion  has  existed,  in  some  places,  still  it 
was  true,  that  he  respected  and  loved  no  religious 


44 

teaching,  but  that  which  was  direct,  searching  to  the 
heart,  and  demanding  unequivocally  a  life  of  faith  in 
the  Redeemer. 

He  was  cut  down  in  the  midst  of  his  projected 
schemes  of  usefulness.  They  were  always  extending 
and  enlarging.  Still  his  ideal  life  was  remarkably  com- 
bined with  the  plans  and  purposes  of  physical  activity. 
No  imaginary  prospect  was  too  comprehensive  for  his 
mental  grasp,  no  physical  obstacles  could  restrain  his 
ardent  determination  to  accomplish  what  to  him  appear- 
ed practicable.  He  threw  himself  into  the  work  wath  a 
disinterested  earnestness,  and  an  absolute  integrity, 
that  gave  promise  of  success,  where  many  would  fail; 
of  final  success  even  amid  present  failures,  and  dis- 
couragement. Such  men  are  needed  for  the  progress 
of  a  state.  Such  are  needed  to  open  to  the  public 
mind  a  true  view  of  its  interests,  and  to  prepare  the 
way  for  carrying  them  on  to  a  successful  issue,  and 
when  they  are  removed  from  us,  lights  and  leaders 
are  taken  away. 


»t*9*     fodrri 


iROT</ft  bras 


-    •  '!«•.   JH  iii  im  '>/fi  fir  nwoh  tif>  ftf.w  f»H 

to 


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« 
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• 

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. 

•jiii  'fc  i^vi  ••»,.    , 
a4«li{  /!'«i/ni5  ji,i: 

. 

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m 


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jrinroi  >naluir$r 

• 


REMARKS 


BT 


HON.  HEMAN  CARPENTER, 

At  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Northfield,  upon  receiving  intelligence  of 
the  death  of  Ex.  Gov.  Paine. 


FELLOW  CITIZENS  : 

We  have  assembled  on  this  solemn  and  mournful 
occasion,  to  express  our  emotions  and  mingle  our  sor- 
rows, on  account  of  the  sad  intelligence  received  of 
the  death  of  our  fellow  citizen,  Ex.  Gov.  Paine,  who 
died  at  Waco,  Texas,  on  the  sixth  ultimo.  Since  the 
first  intelligence  was  received  of  the  illness  of  our 
deceased  friend,  fearful  anxiety  has  been  depicted  up- 
on every  countenance.  But  yesterday,  the  news  of 
his  convalescence  reached  us,  and  hopes  were  enter- 
tained of  his  recovery,  and  again  mingling  in  soci- 
ety ;  to-day  all  is  gloom  and  disappointment. 

Death !  the  grim  messenger,  has  come  near  unto 
us  and  removed  him  towards  whom  we  have  enter- 
tained the  highest  respect,  and  to  whom  we  are  in- 
debted, under  Providence,  for  the  growth  and  prosper- 
ity of  all  around  us.  Under  his  fostering  care  and 
guidance,  our  town  has  grown  up  to  an  eminence 
which  few  in  the  state  excel. 

The  loss  of  such  a  man  is  an  irreparable  one  to  us, 
to  the  state,  and,  I  may  say,  to  the  whole  country. 


Pardon  me,  my  friends,  if  I  briefly  refer  you  to 
some  of  the  prominent  acts  in  the  life  of  Gov.  Paine, 
which  bespeak  for  him  more  praise  than  can  any  lan- 
guage to  which  I  can  give  utterance. 

After  graduating  at  Harvard  University,  he  came 
to  Northfield  to  take  charge  of  his  father's  factory. 
He  became  a  manufacturer  from  necessity,  and  con- 
tinued the  business  until  the  burning  of  his  factory  in 
March,  1848,  a  period  of  almost  twenty -five  years. 
This  business  gave  an  impetus  to  the  growth  and  pros- 
perity of  our  town,  for  which  we  cannot  be  too  thank- 
ful. 

By  his  influence  and  energy,  the  charter  of  the 
Vermont  Central  Railroad  was  obtained,  and  to  him 
are  we  indebted  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  stu- 
pendous work.  There  is  his  monument !  and  when  we 
are  dead  and  forgotten,  then  fresh  in  the  memory  of 
the  future  will  be  his  name,  and  as  long  as  the  iron 
horse  shall  traverse  our  State,  will  his  name  be  re- 
membered and  cherished  by  the  honest  and  hardy 
sons  of  the  Green  Mountain  State.  He  gave  an 
impetus  to  the  construction  of  other  rail  roads. 

The  Vermont  and  Canada  Rail  road,  the  Champlain 
and  St.  Lawrence  Rail  road,  and  the  Ogdensburgh 
Rail  road,  are  largely  indebted  to  Gov.  Paine  for  their 
construction.  By  the  building  of  these  roads  a 
thoroughfare  has  been  opened  between  the  great 
commercial  city  of  New  England  and  the  far  west, 
and  the  metropolis  of  the  Canadas.  There  is  one  inci- 


~ 

49 

commercial  city  of  New  England  and  the  far  west,  and 
the  metropolis  of  the  Canadas.  There  is  one  inci- 
dent in  the  history  of  the  latter  road,  which  may  not 
be  generally  known  to  this  community,  yet  as  it  illus- 
trates one  of  the  prominent  traits  in  Gov.  Paine's 
character,  I  cannot  forbear  to  mention  it  here. 

By  a  condition  in  the  charter  of  that  road,  unless 
a  certain  amount  of  stock  was  subscribed  by  a  given 
day  it  became  forfeited.  The  friends  of  that  enter- 
prise, with  all  their  efforts,  up  to  the  last  point  of 
time,  had  failed  of  securing  the  requisite  amount  of 
stock,  fy  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Gov.  Paine  put 
his  name  to  the  stock  subscription,  and  subscribed  the 
requisite  amount  to  save  the  charter,  and  which  ulti- 
mately secured  the  construction  of  the  road.  A 
greater  portion  of  this  stock  was  subsequently  prov- 
ided for  by  the  company;  but  for  his  subscription,  the 
charter  would  have  became  forfeited  and  the  building 
of  the  road  would  have  been  lost.  It  was  a  bold 
stroke,  and  a  hazardous  experiment,  but  he  knew  no 
lear. 


In  all  his  relations  in  life,  he  never  shrunk  from 
responsibility,  nor  shunned  the  closest  scrutiny.  He 
was  a  man  fruitful  in  expedients.  When  denied  a 
charter  for  the  construction  of  a  bridge  at  Kouses 
Point,  by  the  Legislature  of  Vermont,  he  and  his 
friend  Campbell  devised  the  plan  for  the  construction 
of  a  boat  at  that  point,  which  answers  all  the  pur- 
poses of  a  bridge. 

Gov.  Paine's  last  Railroad  project,  was  the  explora- 


50 

tion  of  a  Southern  route  for  the  great  Pacific  Rail- 
road. A  mighty  project !  but  he  had  mind,  and  judg- 
ment adequate  to  the  undertaking.  It  was  while  ex- 
ploring the  country  in  Texas  for  this  route  that  he 
contracted  the  disease  common  to  the  climate ;  and  his 
feeble  constitution,  weakened  and  reduced  by  great 
efforts  here  among  us,  was  not  sufficient  to  with- 
stand it. 

He  was  an  ardent  friend  of  education.  He  con- 
tributed liberally  towards  endowing  the  University  of 
Vermont,  and  we  are  indebted  to  his  liberal  contribu- 
tions for  the  erection  of  the  Northfield  Academy  buil- 
ding and  the  success  of  our  flourishing;  school. 

O  O 

He  gave  full  evidence,  while  living,  of  his  regard 
for  religion  and  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  In  1836 
he  built  this  church  and  has  given  the  use  of  it  since 
for  the  sustaining  of  preaching  in  this  village.  The 
beautiful  yard  in  front  is  an  ornament  to  our  vil- 
lage, and  excites  the  admiration  of  strangers.  It  was 
decorated  with  the  choicest  flowers  by  his  own  hands, 
and  is  to  become  his  final  resting  place.  He  was 
no  sectarian,  yet  many  a  poor  servant  of  our  Lord  and 
Master  has  been  made  glad  with  the  good  things  of 
this  life,  from  his  benevolent  hands. 

Fellow  citizens,  there  are  two  prominent  features  in 
the  character  of  our  deceased  friend,  the  mention  of 
wh  ich  well  befits  this  occasion.  I  allude  to  his  punctu- 
ality and  his  scrupulous  regard  for  truth  and  justice. 
his  business  relations  every  thing  was  reduced  to  a 
perfect  system.  Punctual  to  meet  all  his  engagements, 


51 

at  all  times,  and  under  all  circumstances,  whatever  he 
promised  was  sure  to  be  performed.  Cautious  and 
confiding,  he  never  censured  rashly  nor  betrayed  his 
trust.  Strongly  attached  to  his  friends ;  towards  those 
who  opposed  him,  he  was  fearless,  bold  and  uncom- 
promising. One  secret  of  his  great  success,  and  of  the 
unbounded  confidence  he  had  attained,  lies,  in  his  high 
sense  of  honor,  and  his  scrupulous  regard  for  justice 
and  truth.  He  was  an  impregnable  rock,  to  his  assail- 
ants, and  a  strong  tower  to  his  friends. 

To  us,  fellow  citizens,  his  loss  is  irreparable.  No 
man  among  us  can  fill  his  place.  No  one  can  do  for 
the  community  in  which  he  Kved,  so  much  for  its 
prosperity  and  happiness.  He  lived  to  do  good,  and 
to  benefit  mankind. 

The  State  of  Vermont  may  well  be  proud  of  such 
a  man.  He  has  left  upon  her  soil  unmistakeable  evi- 
dence of  his  greatness  and  usefulness.  The  numbers 
here  assembled  on  so  sliQrt  a  notice,  the  deep  grief  de- 
picted upon  every  countenance,  bespeak  no  ordinary 
occurrence.  Our  common  friend  and  benefactor  is  re- 
moved from  among  us. 

To  me,  this  dispensation  of  Providence  is  over- 
whelming. Language  fails  to,  express  the  deep  emo- 
tions that  thrill  through  every  nerve.  He  was  my 
friend  when  I  needed  a  friend.  For  seventeen  years  I 
enjoyed  his  intimate  and  uninterrupted  acquaintance 
and  confidence,  I  see  him  now,  as  I  last  saw  him, 
when  a  few  friends  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  bade 
him  good  bye.  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  as  he  left  the 


station  here  in  the  cars  for  his  journey  south.  The 
words  of  one  of  those  friends,  as  the  train  left,  have 
made  an  impression  upon  my  mind  that  time  will  nev- 
er efface.  "  That  car  carries  more  men  from  Northfield 
than  it  will  ever  bring  back,"  was  the  fearful  belief  of 
us  all  when  he  left,  and  sadly  true  it  has  proved  in- 
deed. It  carried  the  living  man,  it  can  only  bring 
back  his  earthly  remains.  It  carried  him  in  whom 
human  nature  can  stand  up  before  all  the  world  and 
say,  "He  was  a  man  /" 


REMAKES 

BY 

HON.  E.  P.  WALTON,  JR., 

At  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Northfield,  upon  receiving  intelligence  of 
the  death  of  Ex.  Gov.  Paine. 


Yesterday,  shortly  after  receiving  the  intelligence 
which  has  fallen  with  crushing  weight  upon  you  all, 
I  learned  that  the  friends  and  neighbors  of  the  late 
Gov.  Paine  would  meet  to-day  to  express,  in  an  hum- 
ble manner,  the  respect  for  his  memory  and  the  sor- 
row for  his  loss,  which  they  are  debarred,  by  his  death 
in  a  far  distant  state,  from  expressing  in  the  accustom- 
ed mode  ;  and  it  was  kindly  added,  that  as  a  personal 
friend  for  many  years  of  your  friend,  it  would  be  pro- 
per for  me  to  join  with  you.  I  cannot  doubt  that  the 
claims  of  friendship,  no  less  than  the  injunction  of 
holy  writ,  enjoin  me  on  this  occasion,  to  "  weep  with 
those  that  weep ;"  nor  that  the  confidence  which  has 
often  been  reposed  in  me  by  Gov.  Paine,  in  matters 
of  the  highest  importance  to  himself,  to  the  great  en- 
terprize  in  which  he  has  been  long  and  ardently  en- 
gaged, and  to  the  public,  requires  of  me  a  tribute  to 
his  memory. 

I  need  not  speak  to  you  of  your  loss  or  your  sor- 
row— for  you  feel  that  there  is  no  loss  like  your  loss, 
and  no  sorrow  like  your  sorrow. 


54 

I  need  not  speak  to  you  of  the  personal  character 
of  Gov.  Paine — of  his  integrity,  and  his  strict  regard 
for  what  he  conceived  to  be  just  and  honorable  and 
fit,  in  all  his  relations,  public  and  private ;  nor  of  his 
reputation  as  a  man  of  business — prompt,  energetic, 
enterprizing  in  the  highest  degree,  and  never  appalled 
by  any  accidents  however  untoward,  or  any  difficul- 
ties however  formidable  ;  nor  of  his  relations  to  you 
as  a  townsman — as  pre-eminently,  the  source  of  your 
prosperity,  the  leader  in  every  object  for  your  advance- 
ment, and  the  most  ready  and  bountiful  contributor 
to  all  your  social,  educational  and  religious  institu- 
tions. He  was  born  in  your  immediate  neighborhood; 
he  has  spent  his  life  among  you;  and  though  it  has 
added  a  keener  pang  to  your  grief  that  death  has 
stricken  him.  down,  far  away  from  kindred  and  friends 
and  neighbors — with  no  accustomed  hand  to  smooth 
his  dying  bed — no  accustomed  voice  to  soothe  his  dy- 
ing hours — no  familiar  friend  to  receive  his  last  re- 
quests, and  no  familiar  faces  to  meet  the  final  beam- 
ing of  the  eye,  and  be  to  him  "  the  last  of  earth," — it 
is  yet  a  consolation  to  remember,  that  here-  is  a  multi- 
tude of  friends  who  will  ever  do  justice  to  his  charac- 
ter, cherish  his  reputation,  and  remember  with  grat- 
itude the  services  and  sacrifices  of  an  active,  useful 
and  eventful  life. 


I  need  not  speak  to  you  of  his  character  as  a  pub- 
lic man — as  Chief  Magistrate  for  the  brief  term  which 
the  late  custom  of  our  republican  State  has  required, 
or  as  a  participant,  out  of  official  stations,  in  public 
affairs ;  for  that  character  is  known  to  the  people,  and 


55 

his  reputation  has  long  been  established  as  one  among 
our  most  prominent  and  promising  public  men  ;  a 
reputation  seldom  achieved,  as  he  achieved  it,  at  an 
early  age,  and  without  aspiring  to  the  graces  of  orato- 
ry on  the  one  hand,  or  on  the  other  resorting  to  the 
artifices  of  the  demagogue.  I  will  only  say  on  this 
point,  what  my  familiar  acquaintance  with  his  politic- 
al character  and  course  requires  me  to  say,  that  as  a 
politician  he  was  remarkably  patriotic,  pure,  high- 
minded  and  honorable — that  his  policy  ever  embrac- 
ed, as  cardinal  points,  the  reputation  of  the  State,  the 
prosperity  of  all  its  institutions,  and  the  welfare  of 
the  people — and  that  he  delighted  to  honor  sound 
principles,  truei  wisdom,  and  personal  integrity,  wrhere- 
ever  he  found  them — whether  in  his  party  or  out  of 
it — whether  among  the  okl  or  the  young — and  unhes- 
itatingly availed  himself  of  all  the  advantages  which 
a  free  and  liberal  intercourse  with  men  of  such  char- 
acteristics could  give  him.  The  youngest  man  I  think 
in  the  Gubernatorial  office  in  the  State,  I  am  sure 
there  was  never  any  man  who  more  highly  esteemed 
the  claims  of  age  and  wisdom,  and  experience,  or  was 
more  ready  to  distinguish  and  encourage  whoever 
among  the  young  gave  hopeful  promise  of  an  honor- 
able and  successful  public  career. 

What,  then,  shall  I  say  to  you,  who  have  known 
him  ;  to  you  who  have  been  the  witnesses  of  his  life ; 
to  you  who  have  esteemed  him  beyond  all  other  men ; 
to  you  who  feel  that  you  have  lost  more  than  a  father 
or  a  friend— lost  both— lost  all  ?  I  can  only  say,  it  is  fit 
now  for  you  to  weep.  Grief  is  the  necessary  burden 
of  this  day  and  of  many  days  to  you  ;  but  when  the 


56 

fountain  of  your  tears  shall  fail — when  you  shall 
become  weary  and  worn  because  of  your  great  grief, 
then  it  will  be  fit  for  you  to  rejoice,  that  one  has  lived 
so  briefly,  yet  so  well,  and  so  honorably,  so  unremit- 
tingly, and  so  successfully  labored  in  important  servi- 
ces for  his  neighborhood,  his  State  and  his  country — 
that  you  feel  his  death  an  irreparable  loss  and  a  pub- 
lic calamity.  Weep  now.  It  is  good  to  weep. 

My  connection,  hi  an  official  capacity,  with  Gov. 
Paine,  and  my  relations  to  him  personally,  from  the 
commencement  of  the  great  public  work  on  which  he 
had  staked  his  highest  hopes,  and  to  which  I  now  feel 
he  sacrificed  his  life,  I  am  aware  will  seem  to  justify 
you  in  expecting  that  something  will  be  said  to-day 
on  that  topic.  The  occasion  is  eminently  a  proper 
one  to  do  justice  to  his  services  and  character  in  that 
respect,  and  you  well  know  that  I  would  gladly  con- 
tribute my  mite  towards  this ;  but  I  too  well  under- 
stand that  no  just  verdict  of  public  opinion  can  now 
be  taken.  Eminently  successful  as  that  work  has  al- 
ready been,  in  the  point  which  I  hesitate  not  to  say 
was  altogether  the  chief  one  in  the  estimation  of  Gov. , 
Paine — I  mean  in  facilitating  intercourse,  and  thus 
developing  the  resources  and  adding  to  the  wealth 
and  power,  and  influence  of  the  people  throughout 
the  vast  territory  which  feels  the  influence  of  all  the 
railroads  that  have  grown  out  of  the  establishment 
of  the  Vermont  Central,  and  which  were  embraced 
in  the  calculations  of  its  founders — I  say,  although  in 
this  respect  the  work  has  been  eminently  successful, 
and  is  worth  the  immense  sum  it  has  cost,  it  is  never- 
theless true,  that  in  another  and  less  important  parti- 


57 

cular,  the  work  is  regarded  as  being  eminently  disas- 
trous, and  the  responsibility  naturally  is,  and  must  be 
for  a  time,  cast  upon  him  who  was  the  acknowledged 
chief  of  the  undertaking.  How  far  that  responsibi- 
lity justly  attaches  to  him,  is  a  question  which  re- 
mains to  be  decided ;  and  however  favorable  my  opin- 
ion may  be  to  his  future  fame,  and  however  confident 
my  expectations,  I  know  that  an  expression  of  the 
opinions  and  expectations  of  any  friend  of  Gov.  Paine, 
in  advance  of  a  full  and  true  history  of  his  adminis- 
tration, would  avail  nothing  in  the  settlement  of  that 
question.  I  can  say  but  little,  therefore,  upon  this 
subject,  and  that  must  be  limited  to  a  simple  testimo- 
nial to  his  character  and  purposes,  which,  from  inti- 
mate connection  and  free  intercourse  with  him  from 
the  beginning,  I  feel  to  be  entirely  just  and  fully  due 
to  him  on  this  occasion. 

His  ambition  in  that  great  undertaking  was  of  a 
character  which  the  world  justly  esteems  to  be  noble ; 
he  aimed  to  win  for  himself  an  honorable  public 
name  by  rendering  a  great  public  service.  However 
much  of  direct  personal  advantage'  he  naturally  and 
and  property  may  have  expected  from  it,  I  am  sure 
that  his  chief  purpose  was  to  win  an  honorable  name. 
In  the  brightest  days  he  looked  joyfully  to  this  re- 
ward; and  in  the  darkest,  when  every  other  hope  seemed 
to  fail,  this  remained  to  solace  him.  It  was  on  one  of 
these  darkest  days,  and  at  a  time  when  courage,  hope 
and  health  were  all  failing,  that  he  said  to  me  in  his 
familiar  mode  of  conversation ;  "  Well,  Walton,  what- 
ever may  become  of  the  corporation,  they  cannot  rob 
us  of  the  road !  It  is  done — it  will  be  run. — and  the 


58 

people  will  at  any  rate  reap  the  blessings  which  we 
designed.  Oh !  if  it  were  not  for  that,  I  really  be- 
lieve I  should  die," 

This  honorable  ambition  absorbed  him,  and  he  look- 
ed to  the  result  as  certain,  because  he  never  had  a 
doubt  that  the  developed  resources  of  the  state,  and 
the  opening  of  the  avenues  of  communication  through 
the  whole  of  the  Northern  section  of  the  Union,  would 
render  the  enterprize  in  every  sense  successful.  So 
no  sacrifice  seemed  to  him  too  large,  no  cost  too  great, 
no  haste  too  urgent,  if  so  be  it  appeared  essential  ei- 
ther to  a  speedy  completion  of  the  undertaking,  or  to 
secure  for  it  important  advantages,  present  or  ultimate 
within  his  reach,  I  say  ultimate  advantages,  for  Gov. 
Paine  was  a  man  of  large  views,  and  his  eye  was 
oftener  cast  far  ahead  upon  some  great  eminence, 
through  toils  and  perils  to  be  achieved,  than  upon  the 
quiet  landscape  at  his  feet  He  was  more  apt  to  dis- 
cern great  things,  and  design  great  works,  than  to 
mark  out  the  thousand  little  details,  which  all,  however 
humble  each  in  itself  may  be,  are  essential  to  the  per- 
fection and  beauty  of  the  whole  structure.  Of  the  ul- 
timate success  of  this  enterprise  he  had  no  doubt ;  and 
when  present  difficulties  and  pressing  demands  seemed 
appalling  to  those  who  had  not  estimated  future  re- 
sults, he  flattered  himself  that  the  end  would  in  the 
judgment  of  all,  be  for  him  a  perfect  justification.  As- 
sociates, some  of  them,  equally  sanguine  with  himself, 
and  influenced  perhaps,  by  his  high  hopes,  were  not 
the  best  advisers  for  him  under  these  circumstances  ; 
and  doubtless  from  this  source,  as  from  other  sources 
.for  winch  Gov,  Paine  was  far  less  responsible,  if  r'espon- 


sible  at  all,  grew  errors  of  judgment.  Himself  placing 
the  highest  estimate  upon  the  enterprise  as  a  public 
work,  deserving  the  support  of  the  public ;  himself 
confident  of  his  success — so  confident  that  he  more 
than  once  staked  his  fortune  upon  it,  by  his  personal 
obligations  and  by  using  for  it  all  his  available  means, 
ha  perhaps  too  strongly  trusted  that  there  were  enough 
of  other  men,  with  equally  enlarged  views  and  larger 
means,  who  would  be  as  confident  and  as  liberal  as 
himself.  Himself  a  man  of  integrity  he  too  much  con- 
fided in  the  integrity  of  others.  There  was  too,  the 
rivalry  of  competing  lines,  and  the  difficulty  of  com- 
flicting  interests,  both  local  and  at  large — all  tending 
to  exasperate  the  feelings  and  bias  the  judgment  of 
those  concerned ;  and  to  all  this  must  be  subjoined 
the  great  fact  that  the  finances  of  the  Company  were 
administered  in  Boston  by  various  heads,  while  the 
work  of  construction  only  was  submitted  to  the  im- 
mediate inspection  of  the  President,  It  is  not  won- 
derful then,df  Gov.  Paine  committed  errors ;  he  would 
have  been  more  than  mortal  if  he  had  not.  It  is  not 
wonderful  if  he  is  for  the  present  held  responsible  for 
far  more  than  are  justly  chargeable  to  him.  Time 
will  bring  a  just  verdict.  But  this  testimony  I  freely 
bear  on  this  solemn  occasion,  and  I  feel  that  you,  at 
least,  the  townsmen  of  Gov.  Paine,  will  not  doubt  my 
sincerity  :  in  all  his  course  I  know  of  no  stain  upon 
his  honor  ;  and  in  all  his  course  I  know  of  no  act  which 
I  have  reason  to  suppose  was  intentionally  wrong ;  in 
all  his  course,  I  know  of  no  instance  in  which  I  have 
reason  to  doubt  that  he  was  persuaded  that  his  action 
was  entirely  consistent  with  the  great  interests  com- 
mitted to  his  trust,  and  with  his  own  personal  reputa- 


60 


tion ;  and  as  the  result  of  his  unwearied  efforts  in  this 
enterprise,  I  trust  the  day  will  come,  for  which  he 
longed,  but  which  in  the  Providence  of  God  he  can 
never  see — when  his  name  will  be  honorably  record- 
ed in  the  history  of  his  state  and  country,  as  a  public 
man  above  reproach,  and  a  great  public  benefactor. 
dAOJUU  tf  il'AHTXS:)  TrtOMH:- 


61 


VERMONT  CENTRAL  RAILROAD  CO.} 

IN  DIRECTOR'S  MEETING  AUG.  25th,  1853.         i 

"  RESOLVED,  That  this  Board  has  with  deep  sorrow  received  intel- 
ligence of  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Charles  Paine,  late  President  of  this 
Company,  and  in  consideration  of  his  indefatigable  and  important  services 
in  originating  and  sustaining  the  corporation,  and  of  his  honorable  char- 
acter as  its  chief  officer,  we  deem  the  event,  a  suitable  one  for  the  official 
action  of  the  Board. 

"  RESOLVED,  That  in  token  of  our  individual  respect  and  regard, 
and  the  high  estimation  in  which  we  hold  the  character  and  memory  of  the 
deceased,  we  will  in  a  body  attend  his  funeral  obsequies. 

"  RESOLVED,  That  the  President  be  empowered  and  requested  to 
furnish  free  passes  to  the  relatives,  and  friends  of  the  deceased,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  attending  his  funeral  at  Northfield  on  the  1st  instant 
A  true  Copy  from  the  Record, 

E.  P.  WALTON,  Jr.,  Clerk, 


62 


The  "  Committee  of  Arrangment"  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  letters 
from  the  following  gentlemen,  tendering  their  sympathies  to  the  relatives 
and  friends  of  lion.  Charles  Paine,  and  regretting  imperative  that  duties 
must  occasion  their  non  attendance  at  his  funeral  obsequies. 

His  EXCELLENCY    ERASTUS   FAIRBANKS, 

R.  BRUCE,    ESQ.,  Secretary,  to  the  Gov.  General  of  Canada. 

PLINY  H.  WHITE,  ESQ., 

HUGH  H.  HENRY,  ESQ., 

JAMES  M.  FERRIES,  ESQ., 

JOHN  L.  BUCK,  ESQ., 

JAMES  BARRETT,  ESQ., 

Ex-Gov.  H.  HUBBARD. 

SAMUEL  W.  THAYER,  JR.," 
JOHN  GREGORY, 
MOSES  ROBINSON,  1  ~ 

HEMAN  CARPENTER, 
PERLEY  BELKNAP, 
ELIJAH  SMITH, 


63 


COMMITTEE  OF  ARRANGEMENTS. 

V 

SAMUEL  W.  THAYER,  JR., 
JOHN  GREGORY, 
MOSES  ROBINSON, 
HEMAN  CARPENTER, 
PERLEY  BELKNAP, 
ELIJAH  SMITH, 

NORTHFIELD,  Dec.  16, 1353. 


3  1205025285030 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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